Center high-mount (“CHM”) brake lights originally were developed to provide increased indication to a trailing vehicle of deceleration by a leading vehicle, thus allowing more reaction time for the trailing vehicle to also decelerate. And while CHM brake lights successfully augment the warning provided to trailing vehicles, the warning is not always sufficient. For instance, in high traffic areas and congested highways during rush hours it is common for the brake lights of a leading vehicle to be on for extended periods of time due to the “bumper to bumper” traffic. In these “traffic jam” conditions, brake lights begin to have less effectiveness as drivers of trailing vehicles drive with their brake pedals depressed in anticipation of deceleration or stopping by vehicle in front of them. In these circumstances, the brake lights are fully and continuously illuminated. Thus, the drivers of trailing vehicles may not receive adequate warning that one or more leading vehicles are decelerating or stopping.
Several and varied solutions to the foregoing problem have been proposed. For instance, Elliott, U.S. Pat. No. 6,753,769, discloses a progressive slow-stop signaling system for energizing a plurality of linearly-arranged yellow and red lights mounted on the rear of a vehicle. The yellow lights are progressively energized from left to right as the vehicle's accelerator is progressively released, while the red lights are progressively energized from left to right as the vehicle's brake pedal is depressed. Salsman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,089,805, discloses a brake light system to indicate the intensity of slow down in a moving vehicle. In particular, the system comprises an array of lights which are sequentially activated by an inertia switch, with more lights being activated as the rate of deceleration increases. Finally, Mathis, US Published Application No. 2010/0085180, discloses a deceleration brake light system comprising a plurality of lights arranged in an array comprising a plurality of vertical columns and horizontal rows. When the brakes of the vehicle are depressed, these lights illuminate progressively from both outermost ends of the array towards the middle.
While the foregoing systems improve upon conventional three-light (i.e., left, right and CHM) brake-light systems, it is envisioned by the inventor hereof that even more informative brake-light systems would help reduce accidents between leading and trailing vehicles.